Snow
by Aergonaut
Summary: Holiday fic challenge at groovysmoothie on LJ.


**Title:** Snow  
**Fandom:** iCarly  
**Pairing:** Freddie/Sam  
**Prompt:** Snow  
**Words:** 975  
**Rating:** PG

* * *

2:59 PM. 2:59 PM and 42 seconds, to be exact. Sitting in her desk at the back of the class, head propped against her left hand and eyes glued to the clock on the wall above the door, Sam was still having trouble believing she was actually in school that day as she counted the seconds until she would be free.

Snow wasn't something one could hope to see very often in Seattle. And when it does come down, it was usually gone or turned to slush by the time the sun had broken the horizon. So this morning, when Sam finally managed to muster up the strength to roll herself out of bed and walk over to her window, she was overjoyed to see the streets outside blanketed in white. Her brief moment of joy was cut short, however, when the morning news announced that the snowfall, while impressive, had not been great enough to warrant closure of the schools.

3:00, and the entire school was filled with a chorus of bells. Finally, thought Sam, grabbing her notebook off her desk and getting up. She was vaguely aware of the teacher at the front of the room squeezing in one final note about the week's homework assignment as she stuffed the notebook into her backpack and slung it over shoulder. She was through the door before the teacher had even finished speaking.

She walked quickly through the main hall, not bothering to stop at her locker, and pushed out through the double doors. Though the sun shone and the sky was clear, the air was still chilly and bit into her hands and face as it gusted past. Her teeth briefly chattering, she reached into her backpack and produced a pair of purple knitted gloves which she slid hastily over her fingers.

Walking down the steps, Sam began to scan the clusters of people standing around in front of the school. After a few moments, Sam spotted Freddie standing a few yards down the sidewalk. She made her way down the steps as quietly as she could, sneaking up behind him.

"What's up, dork?" she said, thumping him in the back of the head from her position behind his back.

"Ow," Freddie said, raising a gloved hand to rub the spot Sam had attacked. Turning his head, he glared briefly at her before saying, "Not now, Sam."

"Aw, is little Freddie in a bad mood?" Sam said in her most patronizing voice as she walked around to stand beside him. Freddie didn't respond, only exhaling heavily, his breath materializing as a cloud of steam in the cold air.

"Hey, where's Shannon?" Sam said, after a brief silence and a quick look around. Since Freddie had finally managed to get over his not-so-secret crush on Carly over two years ago, Shannon had been the one and only girl he had dated seriously. They had been together for about a year by this point, and were widely regarded as one of the more successful couples in the school. Freddie usually walked her home after school, so it was rather strange that she had not shown up yet.

"She dumped me," Freddie said, matter-of-factly.

"What?" Sam said, astonished. "No way, really?"

"Look, I don't want to talk about it," he said, ignoring her questions. Hooking his fingers into his backpack straps, Freddie turned and began walking down the sidewalk.

"Hey, wait up!" Sam called after him as she ran to catch up.

The walk back to Bushwell Plaza was quieter than normal that afternoon, not only because Carly wasn't there to serve her usual role as conversation instigator. Sam did her best to cheer Freddie up, with a handful of "You were too good for her anyway"s and "You'll find someone else"s. But Freddie wouldn't have any of it, refusing to divulge the story of the break up and dodging most other conversation with terse responses.

As they reached the corner of Bushwell and Kennedy, where their two paths diverged, Freddie stopped and broke the constant, wistful gaze to the clear, pale blue sky he had maintained the entire walk.

"You want to come up or something?" he asked, gesturing in the direction of his apartment.

"Nah," Sam said, smiling and waving her hands briefly through the air. "No thanks."

"You sure?" Freddie said. "We could," he shrugged, "hang out or something."

"Yeah, no, I'm sure," she said, shaking her head and stealing a quick glance down Kennedy. "My mom wants me to help her teach the cat Spanish."

Freddie cocked his head to one said and gave her a quizzical look.

"Yeah, I don't know."

They both laughed briefly, a little strained.

"Well, OK," he said, stepping back and beginning down the road to the building's doors. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow," Sam said back, smiling a little and nodding her head.

He waved goodbye, Sam waving back, as he turned to continue down the sidewalk. A brief gust of cold wind blew past, so Freddie stuffed his hands into his coat pockets and hunched his shoulders. He had just about reached the doors when he felt something cold and wet strike him squarely in the back of his neck. He gritted his teeth and shivered a little as a few chunks of melting snow slid down his back, and removed one hand from his pockets to quickly brush away the remaining snow before it could follow. Turning around, he saw Sam, still standing at the street corner, a grin on her face and her hand waving vigorously over her head.

Noticing she had his attention, Sam stopped her waving and cupped both her hands around her mouth. "Feel better, OK?" she called.

"Right," Freddie called back, giving her a single wave over his head as he did. "I will."


End file.
